


The 10 Experiments: Next Generation SYOC

by Kurt50Alien



Category: Alien vs Predator (2004), Final Fantasy VII, Marvel, Mordeo (Short Film 2017), Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Lorien Legacies - Pittacus Lore
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:48:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 19,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22068790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kurt50Alien/pseuds/Kurt50Alien
Summary: Hello. This is a story that I am crossposting with FFN so as to have it be seen by a wider audience. It is a SYOC based on my main story over on FFN. The two ways to submit characters are to PM me over on FFN or leave your character in the reviews. The tags will expand as more fandoms are introduced. (SYOC closed)
Kudos: 1





	1. Introduction

"Mooooom, I can brush my own hair," Marina Mime-Mectix complained.

"Yeah, well it is the first day of school and I want you to make a good impression," her mother, Panto Mime-Mectix, remarked.

"But I've known most of the people here since I was 7. I would think that in 11 years I made an impression on them already.

"I know, I know. Its just..." she trailed off, remembering the conversation she and Lix had with Cthulhu 30 years ago. Were Marina and Adamus really going to be helping save the universe?

Marina looked at her mother. "Listen Mom. Adamus and I are going to be okay. We have been through your training when not at the dojo with the other students. It will be fine."

Panto nodded. She and Six were still teaching at the dojo, just with the younger students. Kurt had said something about her motherly nature being what made him decide to place her there.

Marina's twin brother Adamus poked his head in the doorway. "Come on Mar, we're going to be late."

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Marina responded as she stood up and followed her brother out the door. "Big day ahead of us."

"Yeah, we're essentially going to superhero college," Adamus remarked.

"I know. And to think that Grandfather runs the school."

Adamus nodded. Even though they were Kurt's grandchildren, they expected no special treatment from him.

They walked ontowards their teleportation pad, looking to make sure that no one saw them before teleporting to the dojo.


	2. First Day

Adamus took in a breath of fresh air when he and Marina appeared in the courtyard of the dojo. They looked towards the entrance where most of the other students were gathered in front of an empty podium. "Looks like Grandfather is fashionably late," Adamus remarked.

"Kurt is always late," a voice remarked behind them. The two twins turned around to see their grandmother Baba. "How have you two been?"

Marina rushed over to Baba and hugged her tightly. "We've been great. I heard a story about you over the summer that I want to know if its true. Do you really fly around is a mortar and pestle?"

"Of course I do. To see bewildered looks as I do brings me great joy," Baba replied with a chuckle, causing Marina to laugh as well. She was about to ask another question when the sound of tapping on a mic was heard.

"Hello? Is this thing on?" Kurt asked as he was now standing at the podium. "Ah good. Hello returning, as well as new, students. For those of you unfamiliar, I am Kurt50Alien, leader of this dojo as well as creator of the universe."

"But don't let that intimidate you," Baba remarked, now at the stand as well. "I am Baba Yaga. And before you ask, yes I am partially the inspiration behind the witch."

"Now some of you may or may not know the reasoning behind this school being built. 30 years ago, our universe almost came to an end because of the actions of some heinous individuals," Kurt explained. "Luckily, I had already had a plan in motion."

"It was actually my plan," Baba interrupted. "He just likes to claim it as his own."

"Because I refined it. Anyway, 14 years before the end of our universe, I had bioengineered 20 individuals, the Experiments. Sadly, nine of the Experiments were incomplete and immensely ill." There was a small moment of silence before Kurt continued his story. "I had separated the other Experiments with two of them, Nine and Logan, staying here at the dojo. Then, a few months before our universe almost ended, I reunited them. In the few months before the final battle, six people, Tac, Net, Lix, Mila, Heb, and Newt, joined the Experiments, fulfilling a prophecy created by the Oracle of Delphi. The Prophecy of the Sixteen.

"Now some of you may be wondering 'But Kurt, that is a count of 17, not 16.' And you'd be right except for the fact that Logan, in the thirteen years leading up to the return of the others, had disappeared, only to be found in the lead up to the final battle. After the final battle it was decided that the dojo would be used as a training facility for the next generation of heroes."

Kurt's expression became darker as he continued. "I will warn you though. Some of you may die… or worse." Adamus shivered. He was always nervous whenever his grandfather became serious. "Some of you are probably familiar with that notion depending on your background. Our mission is to protect the world, and by extension universe, from those who wish to destroy it. We hope to arm you with the knowledge to survive in a world where many of the things will attempt to kill you."

"Of course, that will all start tomorrow. Today is a day where you will receive your schedule and rooms," Baba remarked. "You'll find the room numbers posted inside and your schedules will be inside your room. You will have a single roommate, of which it is expected you will get along with."

"Ad! Do you think we'll be roommates?" Marina asked.

"2 things. One, don't call me Ad. You know that I don't like it. Two, it is probably split between male and female."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Well let's go find our rooms." The two of them walked to where some of the other students had gathered. Marina ran her finger down the list. "Looks like I am in room 211 with some chick named Emily Bayliss. You?"

"Nobody." The two of them exchanged confused looks.

"Oh, like everything else here, the list is sentient. It updates when someone new arrives. I guess that it just hasn't given you a roommate yet," Baba explained, appearing behind them once more.

"That makes sense," Marina remarked. "Well I should probably head to my room to meet my roommate. If she is as sarcastic as I am, we'll probably get along great!" Marina made her way to her room.

"I feel bad for her roommate," Adamus remarked to Baba.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! New chapter coming through! The SYOC is still open, I just want to get some chapters out with the characters I have.


	3. Brawlmates

Marina stood outside the door of her new room. When she got close to the room, her nose tingled. Something smelled and she didn't know what. Now, standing outside of the door, the smell was overpowering. She opened the door and saw someone that made it obvious why she had smelled. "Oh yay. A smelly demigod."

Her roommate, Emily, looked at her. "Who asked you how well I smelled?"

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't realize that I had a thick person as my roommate. As a f***ing alien I am able to smell out demigods. And you stink."

Emily gave her a stink-eye which Marina returned with a frigid glare. "Oh f*** off Frosty." Emily turned to her suitcase and continued unpacking before a snowball hit the back of her head. She whirled around to see Marina spinning a snowball on her finger.

"I wasn't done speaking. Try masking your scent with help from Grant. You'll need it."

"One more word about my scent Frosty and I'll skewer you," Emily snapped before getting a snowball to her face, causing her to splutter.

"Call me Frosty one more time," Marina growled, almost animalistically as ice swords formed in her hand. Emily took out a glue stick in retaliation. "What are you going to do with that? Glue my mouth shut? Believe me, it has been tried before."

Emily took off the cap and it turned into a sword pointed at Marina's neck. "Anything else you want to say?"

"Bring it," Marina remarked.

Emily, not wanting to back down, tapped her shoes together. Wings unfurled from them and she flew at Marina. The speed from her flight slammed the two of them through the door and into someone walking by. The three of them tumbled and became a pile of limbs. Both Marina and Emily were swinging wildly, while the third person tried to get away. After a few minutes Marina and Emily were pulled off of each other.

"What the hell were you two thinking!?" Lix shouted at the two of them. Her usually grey eyes were blood red and neon green. Marina knew enough to know that her and Emily were in trouble. Lix grabbed both of them by the forearms and dragged them along. "Tor, would you mind coming with me?" she asked the third person. He nodded and followed her. Lix lead the three of them into her office. "Sit," she commanded Marina and Emily. Marina immediately sat while Emily was hesitant. Lix glared at her, causing the girl to sit down. "Tor, I am sorry that this was your first experience with other students. Especially considering one of them knows better." She shot a look at Marina, causing her to wither. "As for you Ms. Bayliss-"

"Why am I getting in trouble when she started it?"

"From where I stood it looked like you slammed her through the door," Tor remarked.

"Shut up. You didn't see the whole thing."

Lix shot another glare at Emily. "As I was saying Ms. Bayliss. You have mighty shoes to fill. Ever since this place became a school, Chiron has sent a few demigods for the freshman of the live-in portion. And they have almost always met my expectations of how a demigod should act." Lix narrowed her eyes. "And this year I had the ability to choose a demigod. And I chose you. Don't make me regret it."

Emily's jaw was hardset. "What if I didn't want to come to your stupid school?"

"Then you shouldn't have shown up," Marina muttered.

"Silence, both of you!" Lix snapped. "You are embarrassing yourselves."

Tor was standing back and watching. He was starting to dislike this school already if these two were anything to go by. He had been told that it would be a place where he could stop his anger from getting the better of him. But these two would end up pissing him off. Electricity began to crackle around him.

"Tor!" Lix yelled, shutting down his electricity generation. "Even if these two are pissing you off it doesn't give you permission to start generating electricity. All of you get out." Marina rushed out with Emily soon following. Tor slouched out shortly after. Lix sighed in her hands. "These really are the people meant to save the world Delphi?"

"I don't know. But this is the generation," Delphi responded.


	4. A Good Roommate

Adamus was tossing a ball in the air when the door to his room opened. He looked over and saw a 17 year-old boy with short blonde hair enter the room. Adamus looked him over with his color wheel resembling eyes. He met the kids peculiar blue eyes. Or at least the left eye was peculiar. It looked like it was made out of crystal. Adamus looked at his clothes as well. A blue shirt under a motorcycle jacket, leather pants, and sneakers. "I take it that you are Adamus Mime-Mectix?"

"Yeah, who are you?"

"David Ishihara."

"My sister and I have seen you around. She dubbed you Philosophy Boy."

David chuckled at that. "Can't fault her for that. She's the loud one with a fascination for Grant's lab, right?"

"Yeah. That's her. I don't know why she likes it so much. Think fast." Adamus suddenly threw his ball at David who caught it. "Your reflexes aren't bad."

"Years of tennis trained me."

"Ah. Where are you from?"

"Tokyo. What about you?"

"Ohio," Adamus remarked. "It has some significance to my mother."

David nodded. "Probably has some backstory there. I like the dojo because my mom is from Moon. Being in space is fitting for me."

"So you're part alien as well?" Adamus asked.

"Yeah. My mom is a Lunarian."

"That name is a bit on the nose, is it not?"

"Never looked at it that way. What about you?"

"Loric, Mogadorian, Creationist. I'm just a patchwork quilt of genes."

""Judge a man not by the color of his skin but the content of his character.'"

"I don't think that really applies here."

"I thought that it was apt," David replied with a chuckle.

"To each his own."

"Exactleeeeeee," David yelped from his spot in the doorway as he was accidentally shocked by a passing Tor.

Adamus stuck his head out the door. "Hey, what's your problem?"

Tor spun around, electricity crackling around him. He saw a resemblance between Adamus and Marina. "Your sister is my problem," he snarled.

Adamus sighed. "What did she do now?"

"Her and her roommate got into a fight and I got into trouble because of it."

"That shouldn't give you an excuse to shock me," David responded.

"David, I'm sure it was an accident, right?"

"Yeah. Whatever," Tor responded before walking away.

The two roommates looked at each other. "I feel bad for whoever is going to be his roommate," Adamus remarked.

"Hasn't he ever heard of Confucious's Golden Rule?"

Adamus shrugged. "Let's not worry about him and get your stuff put away."

"That's probably a good idea."


	5. Cryptic Class

Marina sat down to breakfast with her brother and David the next day. "I hate my roommate," she muttered.

"Sounds like you got into a scuffle with her," Adamus remarked as he bit into his breakfast sandwich.

"And also pissed someone off," David remarked as he grabbed an apple.

Marina plucked the apple from his hand. "Tor was in the wrong place at the wrong time Philosophy Boy," she remarked as she bit into the apple. "Ad, how come you get a cool roommate?"

"I told you not to call me that. And I'm sure that your roommate isn't that bad."

Marina pointed to a girl with scarlet hair arguing with another student. "That's her. She can't take a f***ing joke."

David shook his head. "Her and Tor are going to be massive problems this year."

"So what classes do you guys have first?"

"We both have monsterology with Crypt," Adamus remarked.

"Awesome. I do as well. Do you think that he'll let us fight the Look-See?"

"It is highly unlikely considering that it will be the first class. We'll probably just be going over the plans for the year," David responded.

"But Crypt is a badass! He'll be an amazing teacher that won't do boring s*** like that."

"I don't know who this Crypt fellow is," David added. "So I don't know." David checked his watch. "We should probably get going anyway." The three of them stood up and began to walk towards their class with Crypt.

When they got to the classroom, the only person there was Crypt. "Adamus, Marina. It's good to see you two again. How's Panto?"

"She doing good. Crypt, this is my roommate David Ishihara. David, this is Crypt, one of the members of the Council of Outeruniversians."

"A pleasure to meet you sir."

"Just Crypt will do. I have something special planned for today. You'll love it."

Marina clapped. "Are we going to fight the Look-See?!"

"No," Crypt responded. Upon seeing Marina's disappointed look he continued. "That will be later on down the line. Today will merely be studying monsters up close."

"Is that even legal?" came a curt remark. The 4 of them looked to the doorway to see Tor standing there.

"Highly legal," Crypt responded. "I wouldn't do it if it wasn't."

Tor shrugged before sitting down in a back corner of the classroom. Other students began to file in, including Emily who took the other back corner of the classroom. Adamus, Marina, and David sat down in the front row of the classroom. Once everyone had sat down Crypt began to introduce himself.

"Greetings students. For those of you who don't know, I am Crypt. I come from one of the other universes in the Outer Universe. In fact, I am its leader. I am here to be your Monsterology teacher as a favor for Kurt. Today's class we will be studying a select few monsters up close." Crypt lifted up his desk to reveal a staircase. "Follow me please."

The students got up from desks and followed their teacher down. At the bottom, Crypt flicked on some lights to reveal a myriad of creatures locked up in cages. "Some of these creatures hail from my own universe, but many of them are from this universe." Crypt tapped on a cage. Inside was a creature that, from the neck down, looked humanoid, but its head was truly horrific. It was still looked like a human, if you had skinned off their entire head. Its had several fangs that looked capable of ripping apart flesh. From the top of its skull were two deer antlers. It opened its mouth and let out a bone chilling roar. "This right here is a Mordeo. It is comparable to the Algonquian Wendigo in that in a certain set of woods, cannibalism will turn you into one. This is a Mordeo shortly after transforming. Over time, their heads become less human and their fangs grow to be the size of your upper arm. The Mordeo is one of the few creatures out there that have a hierarchy."

"You describe it like it isn't a monster," Emily remarked.

"Well obviously I would describe it as if it isn't a monster. Or at least monsters that you are familiar with." Crypt walked up to the redhead. "Emily Bayliss, daughter of Hermes."

"Thank you for telling me who I am."

Crypt ignored her interruption. "You're familiar with the monsters from Greek mythology. That is the difference between the monsters you are familiar with and the Mordeo. Yours are considered, by the population at large, to be myths. The Mordeo, by contrast, is a cryptid."

"What's the difference? It's still a monster," Tor remarked.

"Tor Zephyr," Crypt remarked, walking up to the young man. "To answer your question, a myth is a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events. A cryptid is an animal that has been claimed to exist but never proven to exist. Contrary to popular belief, cryptids don't have to be supernatural, mythical or even all that strange. As you can see, all mythical creatures are cryptids, but not all cryptids are mythical creatures."

"Crypt, you sound like your just regurgitating the definition from a dictionary," Marina remarked.

"Who said that I wasn't?" Crypt responded.

"Crypt, you said that you're a monster expert and your name sounds similar to cryptid. Any correlation between yourself and cryptids?" David asked.

Crypt only gave him a smile in response before addressing the rest of the class. "Study these creatures carefully as by the end of the year, you will be placed into combat with most, if not all of them."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I hope you enjoyed the 5th chapter of the story. The SYOC is still open, so please, if you want to, submit a character.


	6. Prepare for a Fight

Marina was hyped up on adrenaline after Crypt's class. "He really knows his shit," she remarked to Adamus and David. "I didn't know half the stuff that he told us."

David nodded in agreement. "To think the different amount of weapons and material you would need to combat every monster there."

"And that wasn't even a 1% of all of the monsters we may encounter," Adamus added. "What class is next David?"

"Combat class with Nine and B.W," David responded.

Marina checked her own schedule and sighed. "I have history class with Megan. Well, we don't want to be late. Peace!" She dashed off down a hallway towards her next class.

"Is she always so… flamboyant?"

"Most of the time. But what can you do?"

"As Harper Lee once wrote in To Kill a Mockingbird, 'You can choose your friends but you sho' can't choose your family.'"

"Truer words have never been spoken my friend."

"I think you mean written," was David's response.

"You got me there," Adamus chuckled. The pair of the reached a set of double doors which Adamus pushed open. Inside was what looked like any normal gymnasium, except for the weapon rack. Nine and B.W. stood in the center of the room. "Hey Nine," Adamus remarked, bowing to the man.

"Hello Adamus," Nine responded, bowing back.

"Do I have to bow as well?" David asked.

"No. It's just something that these two weirdos do," B.W. growled. "Get up in the bleachers you two." David and Adamus nodded as they filed up into the bleachers. They sat down in the back and watched the other students walk in. Most of them were cautious around B.W., having seen the Predator movies. When everyone was accounted for, B.W. spoke. "Alright mortals, you are all here to learn how to fight. I am the Black Warrior, the grim reaper of the Yautja."

"And I am Nicholas Wondershine, but you can just call me Nine. I am the greatest swordsman in this universe."

"And I am the greatest hand-to-hand combatant. So naturally we'll be teaching your Combat Class." B.W.'s head turn to each of them, his face obscured by his mask. His plasma caster suddenly powered up and blasted a hole right above a student who was dozing off. "First lesson: CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

"Your enemies will be unpredictable and won't fight fair. So you must stay on guard, 'less you want your body blown to bits." Nine took out the Kusanagi and pointed it at a few students, David and Adamus included. "Some of you brought you own weapons with you, the rest of you will need to borrow weapons from the racks."

"What's your weapon?" Adamus whispered to David.

"A replica of the sword from Soul Calibur. You?"

"My transforming sword," Adamus responded before a plasma blast hit the spot above his head.

"Mime-Mectix! Ishihara! Since you two are already talking about your weapons, would you mind being our first combatants today?" B.W. asked, but it came out more as a command.

Adamus sighed as he stood up. "Guess I should've expected this," he remarked.

"Yeah. Don't go easy on me," was David's response.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. Sorry for the cliffhanger. I felt like this was a good place to end off. We'll see the fight in two chapters because next time we'll be seeing what the Daughter of Chaos's History Class is like. Also, I have a companion book out for this series on FFN. Go check it out.


	7. A Lucky History Lesson

Marina sighed. She would rather be in combat class with Adamus and David than sitting and waiting for Megan. Her boredom caused her powers to activate without her noticing as the room began to dip in temperature.

"Marina, please refrain from accidentally turning the room into a winter wonderland," Megan remarked as she entered the room. The Daughter of Chaos had definitely changed appearance wise since her father was defeated. She had grown to be 6 foot, her originally brunette hair was now blonde, her kaleidoscopic irises had turned as black as a moonless night. Most notably though was the pair of massive bat wings that sprouted from her back. Having outlived the 27 years she was only given to live, she had decided to longer hide who she was.

"Sorry Megan. Won't happen again," Marina apologized.

"While we are in class, it is Ms. Chaos." Megan turned to the rest of the class. "Good morning class. I am Megan Chaos and I will be teaching you all history. And I find the best place to start to be with the Council of Outeruniversians. There are 14 members of the Council and they are the most powerful beings of their universes, with a few exceptions. Today we'll talk about 4 of the members and their universes. Now who can name 4 of the members?" Marina's hand shot up and, surprisingly, Tor's hand went up from the back of the room. "Mr. Zephyr?"

"There's the monsterology teacher Crypt," he remarked.

"Yes. Crypt is one of the founding members." Megan wrote Crypt on the board in cursive, followed by the word 'Founding Member.' "Marina?"

"There's Grandfather, Cthulhu, and ETKOL."

"Indeed." Megan wrote Kurt, Cthulhu, and ETKOL under Crypt. Next to Kurt she wrote 'Founding Member/Leader.' Next to Cthulhu she wrote 'Founding Member.' And finally next to ETKOL she wrote 'Succeeding Member.' "Now, who would you like to know about first." No one raised their hand. "Fine. Then I'll choose." She scanned the classroom and saw a mop of scarlet red hair, reminding her of a similarly unnatural of red hair, and knew her decision. "Now, how many of you here are Irish?" she asked, causing a few hands to raise, including Emily's. "Good. Then you must be familiar with leprechauns, correct?"

"I don't think that you need to be Irish to know about leprechauns," came Emily's scathing response.

Suddenly Megan was standing at Emily's side. "I wasn't talking about the typical interpretation of leprechauns, Ms. Bayliss. I was talking about the leprechauns from another universe. They were most commonly in contact with those from Ireland. Don't quickly assume that I am being stereotypical. Got it?" Emily was going to respond was another snide remark before a cold prickling raced up her spine. Megan was looking down at her, her black eyes locked in a cold glare, something that she had perfected in her years of teaching. And was she great at it, causing Emily to shrink back in her seat and just nod. "Good. Now the leader of the leprechauns is ETKOL. The leprechauns aren't so much different from us actually. The only people there that have the magic associated with leprechauns are the Royal Family due to their lineage being drawn from the 5th Dimensional Beings of Power. ETKOL is the king of the leprechauns with his siblings, Tash and Blizzarina…"

"Seriously, what kind of names are these? ETKOL? Blizzarina?" Tor interrupted. "One of them doesn't even sound like a name and the other one sounds like the name of a saturday morning cartoon villain."

"Well considering that ETKOL isn't his real name, but a little nickname, and Blizzarina is a villainess, those would be correct assumptions. Now back to my explanation. Tash, Blizzarina, and ETKOL are all members of the Royal Family, so how was it decided who was the successor you may ask? Well, the same way with how the monarchy works. The eldest child becomes the next ruler, which was Blizzarina before she was incarcerated for attempting to assassinate her father and managing to assassinate her mother." There was a collective gasp from the room. "I know, I know. She just had to wait a few years and she would be able to be the total tyrant that she wanted to be. Instead ETKOL and Tash were able to stop her and her friends who were all affluent people in the society. Why did they do it? That is one of the questions I hope we can answer in my class next year, psychoanalysis. But again, that is a topic for next year." She leaned against her desk. "But back to the story. Since Blizzarina was incarcerated, the next in line was Tash. But due to a freak accident in his lab, he was mutated into an ungodly creature unfit to rule. So it finally passed onto ETKOL. ETKOL was easily the best choice to be on the Council. He had his sister's charisma and his brother's sanity."

"How does charisma and sanity make him a good choice?" Tor asked.

"Well it is fairly obvious, isn't it?" Most of the students shook their heads. "Well, as we already established, most of the beings on the Council are the most powerful beings in their respective universes. Merely looking upon them could cause insanity unless the mind was sound. And his charisma allowed him to be able to communicate and be very persuasive with other members. As someone who has met ETKOL, I can attest that he was a wonderful person." The bell rang signalling the end of class. "Oh it's that time already. Well, we'll continue this next class. Have fun with your other classes everyone!"

The students began to file out of the room and began to head to their next classes. On her way to her next class, Marina passed by a door that seemed to be decaying and renewing itself. She looked around to see if anyone else saw it, but the only person looking even remotely towards it was Emily who turned and walked away when she saw Marina.


	8. A Colorful Encounter

Adamus stood in the center of a ring with the rest of his peers looking down at him from the stands. He currently had his transforming sword set to be a pair of wrist gauntlets similar to the ones Yautja used. David stood across from him. His mannerisms mimicked a knight with how he held his sword currently. The tip was pointed at the ground with David's hands wrapped firmly around the handle. _That handle guard is too thick for me to accurately twist the blade away from his grasp. So instead I'll have to try and go for the tip of the blade_ Adamus thought as he tightened the straps of the wrist blades. Both boys had on a harness that was meant to prevent them from actually doing serious damage to each other.

"Are you two ready?" Nine asked, the roommates nodding in response. David lifted up his sword. "Then begin!"

Adamus leapt off the ground and landed in front of David. He swung his wrist gauntlet with so much speed and precision that David barely had anytime to block. Adamus then began a relentless assault on David, attacking in such a way that left him vulnerable in a new spot that Adamus would then target. This kept up for several minutes until Adamus's Loric physiology allowed him to be just quick enough to land a blow on David's side, knocking the air out of the young Lunarian's lungs and causing him to stumble back. Adamus used the opportunity to land in a couple quick slashes before David was able to push back.

David began to retaliate with powerful swings, knocking aside Adamus's gauntlets. If he had been using a normal sword, it would have flown out of his hand. Adamus decided to try a new approach and his transforming sword transformed into a pistol which Adamus used to unload a couple rounds into David. Luckily the harness system activated so that the worst it could do was cause minor bruising. David swung wildly at Adamus, causing him to jump out of the way and get into a roll. Exiting the roll he unloaded another few rounds into David, causing him to stumble. Adamus used the little bit of time David spent recovering to sweep his leg, causing him to fall onto the floor. Adamus then turned the pistol back into his wrist gauntlets and pointed it at David. "I win," he remarked.

"Yeah, looks like you do," David responded.

"Actually, neither of you win," B.W. remarked, the two boys giving him an incredulous look. He turned to look at the class. "Who here can tell me what they did wrong?" A girl in the front of the class raised her hand. She was a slim girl with short green hair that reached her neck. Her eyes were the same shade of green as her hair and seemed to convey a look of intellect. "Yes, Aurélie?"

"Actually it's Amelie currently," she corrected him. "But the thing that mainly went wrong was that they were relying heavily on the harnesses to cushion all the blows. As future protectors of people, we should attempt to subdue the enemies first by crippling them by targeting their extremities. Yet when Adamus used his gun, he aimed at David's chest and when David landed a few blows on Adamus, they were all targeted at his chest. Without the harness there would have been major lacerations and bullet holes that would have led to them possibly bleeding out."

"Exactly, thank you Amelie. Did you hear that everyone? As heroes we should be crippling our enemies whenever possible. You two," B.W. turned his attention back to the two boys, "go sit in the bleachers and watch the rest of the class spar."

"Yessir," the two of them responded.

The rest of the class went by smoothly. Each spar was interesting in its own right, but the one that interested Adamus the most was the spar that the girl Aurélie/Amelie had. It wasn't because of the spar itself, but because of her. When she went to spar, her hair and eye color changed from green to yellow. She didn't even use a weapon, yet easily wiped the floor with her opponent, someone who used a battle axe. Then when the spar was over her hair and eye color became indigo.

"I'm not imagining things, right?" Adamus asked.

"Nope. Her hair did shift colors before our very eyes," David responded, knowing what his roommate was going to say.

Adamus's interest was piqued by this Aurélie girl to say the least.


	9. Light Shed on the Subject

After Combat Class, Adamus and David went to history where they had the same talk about ETKOL that Marina's class had with a little bit of a delve into Cthulhu. Adamus didn't pay full attention to the conversation though as he already knew most of this information. His thoughts were mainly focused on Aurélie and the color shifting she did. He wished that Marina was with him, she probably would have already figured it out. During the one hour class period he managed to piece together absolutely nothing. He would have to bring it up to Marina next period during the lunch break.

"Adamus, were you still thinking about that Aurélie girl?" David asked him after class.

"Yes. I can't really think of any explanation as to what was causing her hair and eye color to shift."

"Sounds to me like you are thinking too much into it, it probably has something to do with her abilities."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Adamus remarked as the duo headed to the cafeteria, unbeknownst to either of them, Aurélie herself was listening.

"Well, we certainly made an impression on him it seems."

" _And he hasn't even met me_ ," Allison remarked inside the girl's head.

" _Perhaps we should introduce ourselves_ ," Adrianna suggested.

" _I don't think that's a good idea_ ," Adele murmured. " _What if they think we're weird?_ "

"I think that it sounds like a wonderful idea Adrianna," Aurélie responded. "And everyone here has something weird about them Adele, it should be fine." With that she headed towards the cafeteria herself. When she arrived she scanned the room for the two boys, she noticed them sitting in the far back with a girl, she walked over to them and sat down. "Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Not at all," Marina responded with a smile. "I'm Marina Mime-Mectix. This is my twin brother Adamus and his friend David… what's your last name again?"

"Ishihara," David replied, causing Aurélie's eyes to light up a bit.

"Are you also Japanese?" she asked him.

"Indeed I am, I was born and raised in Tokyo. I take it that you are Japanese?"

"French-Japanese. I'm Aurélie Duax by the way."

"That's a fancy name," Marina remarked. "You also seem to have caught my brother's attention."

"Oh have I?" she responded, feigning ignorance.

"Indeed, something about your hair and eye color changing. What's that about?"

"My sisters," she responded cryptically.

"What do you mean by your sisters?"

"I have DID, I call the other personalities my sisters."

"Let me take a guess, 7 personalities, one for each color of the rainbow."

Aurélie nodded, although a few years ago she would have denied Alice's existence for a little bit. Most people would be too scared of Alice to want to get close to any of them. "Would you like to meet them?"

"Of course!" Marina responded, Adamus and David nodded in agreement. What happened next made their jaws hit the floor. Suddenly their table went from only having 4 people, to having 10. The new arrivals all looked like Aurélie except for their hair and eye color. Anyone looking at their table would think that a rainbow just split apart on them. Even how they were sitting was similar to a rainbow. Next Aurélie was a girl with blue hair, followed by green, then yellow. On the other side of the table, starting next to David was a purple haired girl followed by red, then orange.

"Adamus, David, you two already met Amelie," Aurélie remarked, introducing the green hair girl to the group.

"Hello," she greeted.

Aurélie then nudged the blue haired girl sitting next to her, who seemed to want to shy away. "This is Adele."

"H-hello," Adele greeted, her voice barely audible.

Aurélie then gestured to the purple haired girl. She seemed more interested in her nails than the conversation at hand. "That's Allison."

"But you can call me the purple princess," she added.

"Sitting next to Allison is Alice." Alice seemed to radiate a vibe saying 'If you cross me or my sisters, I won't hesitate to break every bone in your body.' "Don't worry about her demeanor, she's really nice when you get to know her."

"Just don't give me a reason to hurt you and you should be fine."

"I take it, that's our only warning," David asked.

"Exactly."

Aurélie then gestured to the orange haired girl who cut her off before she could say anything. "I'm Adrianna! It is wonderful to meet you three!"

Adrianna's energy was infectious to Marina, who responded with an equal amount of energy. "It is wonderful to meet you all as well!"

"And finally there's Adeline."

"You kicked serious ass in your spar," David remarked, knowing now that it was her from her hair and eye color.

"Thank you," she responded before all the girls disappeared.

"And now you've met the girls," Aurélie remarked. "So what do you think?"

"What do I think?" Marina asked. "I think you're awesome!"

"Seeing your powers in action before knowing you definitely piqued my interest," Adamus remarked. "And I have to say that you truly are unique."

Aurélie blushed a little bit from the compliment. "Thank you."

"I can only say one thing Aurélie, welcome to the friend group," David remarked with a smile.

Aurélie smiled back. "We're happy to be here."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Bet you weren't expecting another chapter so quickly. Well, I got into the writing mood again recently. And now we understand what was going on with Aurélie last time. I like to describe her as a one woman militia. I really hope to hear your thoughts about her and her sisters. Until next time, bye.


	10. Mission Recieved

It had been two weeks since the first day of school. Over the course of that time, the group of Adamus, Marina, David, and Aurélie had become very close friends and honed their skills together. Marina and David would help each other with their ice powers. Adamus, David, and Adeline frequently sparred together with Alice occasionally taking part. Marina and Amelie at one point spent an entire night creating something with the supervision of Grant, Marina returned to her dorm afterwards, accidentally waking up Emily, who's mood was soured for the next couple of days. And whenever the twins were together they did what they had always done since they unlocked their first legacies, trying to unlock more.

From their constant training in the off-time, it should have come at no surprise to any of them that they would be going on their first mission of the year so early, but they were still shocked.

"EEEEE!" Marina squealed at breakfast the morning of their mission. "I still can't believe it. This is the earliest that any first years get to go on a mission."

"I know right," Adamus agreed. "And just look at who's leading the mission. Aunt Lix and Mom."

"Remind me again why them leading the mission is so important?" Aurélie asked.

"When Kurt and Baba are needed in other universes or for Council meetings, they make a huge announcement reminding everyone that Panto and Lix are in charge," David explained, remembering his previous years at the school.

"Well, we don't want to keep them waiting, let's go!" Marina remarked before dashing out of the cafeteria.

Adamus chuckled a bit at his sister's excitement. "She's always ready for the next adventure," he remarked.

"Tell me about it. Adrianna is the same way," Aurélie responded. The group made their way out of the dojo and were surprised to see not only Lix and Panto, but also Tor and Emily.

"Okay, good, everyone is here," Lix remarked. "Now we can explain the mission and why you were all chosen."

"So as I am sure Megan, sorry Professor Chaos, has probably explained to you already, thirty years ago time stopped on Christmas day because of her father Primordial Chaos," Panto started. "Well during the final battle some villains got away. For the past 30 years we've tracked down and captured most of them, but a few have still eluded us. One of them is probably one of our more dangerous villains, Tracker Jacker. He can take over someone's mind using little bugs. Recently we found one of these bugs in a small town."

"We don't know why he's there, we just need to find him. He knows us too well so we needed to assemble a team to help us. Our mission is to go to the town, find someone who is under Tracker Jacker's control, hope they lead us to him, and bust his ass," Lix finished. Most of what she said was true, except for the fact that she and Panto knew exactly what was in that town. The Reality Stone.

"So why are we all here?" Emily asked.

"Simple. You all have characteristics important to this mission's success. Tor's electricity could short circuit the bugs. Emily, you can help us get into the place when we find it. Marina is a tactical genius and could probably figure out if someone is being unusual. Adamus, David, and Aurélie are all excellent fighters. The best in the year actually."

"Now since Tracker Jacker arrived in the town, monsters have slowly been congregating, so be on your toes as a monster could attack at any time. You guys are too act like normal teens out in public, but we want you to keep up your training at night. Okay?"

"Yes ma'am," came a chorus of replies, with Tor and Emily's being half-hearted.

A teleporter behind the group opened up. "The mist will make it seem like you all live in different houses to the people of the town, if some people start to slip up and notice a few things off about you, Emily, you need to charmspeak to them to try to convince them otherwise."

"Yeah. Yeah," was the redhead's reply as she walked through. The rest of the group followed.

"Should we really keep the information about the Reality Stone from them?" Lix asked.

"Yes. You and I have both seen the door. She's getting stronger. We told them that their mission is to stop Tracker Jacker. Which is entirely true. They don't _need_ to know about her just yet. If they succeed, they are the ones who will stop her."

"And if they fail?"

"There's still six more stones."

"It just feels wrong lying to them. We didn't even tell Aurélie about him being there!"

"I know Lix! I fucking know! Do you think that I want to lie to my own children?! Do you think that I want Aurélie to come face to face with someone who dealt major emotional damage to her without knowing first!" Panto yelled. "We just need to have faith that they'll complete their mission of finding where Tracker Jacker is so that we can go in and defeat him."

* * *

Meanwhile with the students, the teleporter made it seem like they just came off a bus that rolled into town. The teens climbed off the bus two by two. Marina and David, followed by Admaus and Aurélie, then finally Emily and Tor. "This town looks awesome!" Marina remarked. To put the town simply, it looked like Hill Valley from Back to the Future, which made Marina excited.

"We try our best with our small town," a voice remarked from the left of the teens. Aurélie froze when she heard the voice. _It can't be him! It just can't!_ she internally screamed. The teens turned to look at a hispanic boy a year older than them with golden eyes. "I'm Diego Gonzales and welcome to the small town of Wilkson's Garden."

Before anyone could even say anything, Aurélie was charging towards him. Although it wasn't Aurélie, it was Alice, and her eyes were filled with pure rage and hatred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hello everyone! I hope that you all enjoyed the latest chapter. I sure enjoyed writing it. But there is a question to be asked. What the hell did Diego do to have Alice so pissed and Aurélie freeze up?


	11. Through the Looking Glass

Before Alice could reach Diego, Adamus quickly grabbed her arm. It stung for some reason, but Adamus didn't care. He wasn't going to let Alice do what she wanted to. Alice attempted to shrug off his grip, but he was holding on tight. "I can tell that something happened between you guys," Adamus whispered to her. "But whatever it is, you can't act on it right now. We have a mission to do."

"Um, what's wrong with her?" Diego asked.

Emily's demigod nature kicked in, she knew that Diego was most likely a mortal, so it was best to keep him in the dark. "Nothing, nothing," Emily responded, layering her voice with as much charmspeak as she could. "Why don't you show us around town?" She looked at Alice and Adamus with a look that said, 'I don't _want_ to do this, but whatever is going on, you two sort it out while we distract him.'

"Sure," Diego responded as he began to walk away with Emily, Marina, David, and Tor following.

"What the hell was that about Alice?" Adamus asked. He had never seen her so pissed off before.

"You wouldn't get it!" she snapped as she struggled under his grip. "Let me go so that I can pound him into a bloody pulp!"

"Not until you tell me why you are so angry." Adamus tightened his grip.

"Because he hurt Aurélie when they first met!" Alice yelled.

Adamus's multi-colored eyes hardened. "Let's go to the safe house and you can explain it to me there." He headed off in a random direction. He didn't know how he knew where to go, but he assumed that it was working on the same principle as the dojo. The place you stay calls out to you. Eventually they reached what looked like a rundown building. "This is it," he remarked. "Allison is going to be thrilled when she sees it," he added, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

Alice didn't respond as the two of them headed inside. And to say that the outside was a facade was an understatement. The interior looked like a billion dollar mansion, but neither of them cared about that right now. They headed into a room off the entrance hall, which turned out to be the kitchen. The two of them stood at opposite sides of the island. "Now tell me, why do you hate him? What did he do to Aurélie?"

"He betrayed her…" Alice trailed off before her hair and eyes turned indigo.

"He betrayed my trust," Aurélie whispered, seeming more like Adele than herself.

"How so?" Adamus asked as he got up and perused the cupboards looking for cups and maybe something to make coffee with.

"He was my first…" What was Diego to her exactly? "I guess he was the first person I ever dated. He wasn't my boyfriend, just someone who I would text through the night."

Adamus continued to listen as he found a couple of mugs, a Keurig machine, and some k-cups. He set about making him and her some coffee.

"I was a freshman in high school and he was a sophomore when we first met. It was at a party and he had heard about me and my sisters. He said he wasn't put off by them and I guess that was enough for me to trust him. Not many people were willing to approach me because they found a girl with six different personalities a little off putting."

"Six?" Adamus asked.

"Yes. At that time Alice was only in my subconscious. She only really came out when I was being attacked in some way."

"So why is she out of your subconscious?" He placed a cup of coffee in front of her.

"Thanks," she responded as she took a sip. "A few weeks after we met he asked me to send him a nude. I trusted his word enough when he said that he wouldn't share them with anyone. That had been a huge mistake. By the afternoon of the next day the whole school had seen them."

The mug that Adamus had been holding suddenly shattered. "Shit!" he cursed as he went to go clean it up. "Let me guess what happened next. Alice kicked the shit out of him?"

"Exactly. But by then the damage had been done. My family had to leave town when the bullying became too much. I hoped that I would never have to see him again." She suddenly broke down crying as the betrayal she felt back then came rushing back to her.

Adamus went around the island and pulled her into a hug. "It's okay. This time you'll have friends by your side to face him," he whispered. They were like that for a while, Adamus holding her in a comforting embrace while she cried.

"Th-thank you Ad," she choked out, not even able to get out his full name, and for once, Adamus didn't mind hearing that nickname.

The longer he held her the more Aurélie couldn't help but feel a fluttering inside her chest that she remembered all too well. _No. After what happened with Diego we had agreed not to get romantically involved with anyone,_ she internally scolded herself, but the feeling remained. She pulled away from Adamus's hug and wiped away a few remaining tears from her eyes. She then looked him in the eyes. "I am Aurélie Duax, and I am not going to allow Diego Gonzales get inside my head again."

Adamus smiled and patted her back. "That's great." Suddenly a little furry head poked out of his shirt. "Kusa? Have you been here the entire time?" A chittering noise came from the creature.

"Who's Kusa?" Aurélie asked.

Adamus reached into his shirt and pulled out a ferret. "This is Kusa. She's my pet chimæra."

"Awwww. Can I hold her?"

"Of course." Adamus was happy that Aurélie was feeling better as he handed her Kusa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hey guys. I thought that I might explain the chapter title. It is mainly because this chapter is Alice's origin story and I felt like it was a fitting title. It has nothing to do with the actual phrase of "through the looking glass."


	12. What ARE They?

Meanwhile with the other group, Tor was starting to get annoyed by Diego. He just kept on going and on about the ages of buildings and what they were used for. Knowing the buildings was fine, but he was really annoyed by the random tidbits. "If he keep on talking about stupid stuff, I will shock him," he muttered to the rest of the group.

"I'm finding myself agreeing with Discount Thor," Emily remarked. "If I wanted to know about all this stuff, I'd go to Wikipedia."

"This was your idea," Marina responded.

"And I am regretting it."

"Hey Diego, does this town have a tennis court?" David asked to get the rest of the group to hopefully stop arguing.

"Nope. You a tennis player?"

"Yes I am. A star player in fact," David responded with a bit of pride in his voice.

"Hey, so what was that girl's problem?" Diego asked. "The one who charged at me?"

"We don't know. She has DID, so it could have just been a personality that was just rage-filled," Marina remarked. "But let's not worry about that, okay?" She nudged Emily to get her to use some charmspeak to convince him.

"Yeah, there was nothing to worry about," Emily added as she sent a glare at Marina.

"If you say so." The group continued their tour, reaching the edge of town. "Be careful, this is the shadier part of town."

"Of course it is," Emily remarked. "Every wonderful town has one."

Suddenly a red blur rammed into Diego, and ended up slamming him into a wall. The group drew their weapons, as the creature turned to look at them.

"What the fuck?!" Marina yelled. It was a xenomorph. But why was it red? "Guys, be careful, we don't know why it is red."

Tor didn't listen, instead charging straight at the xenomorph. The xenomorph swung its tail, the limb extending as it moved, taking Tor by surprise and smacking him away. He was sent spiraling to the ground with the xenomorph towering over him.

Marina rushed over and hit the xenomorph away with a shield made of ice. "Dumbass! We don't know what it does, so your bright idea is to charge it?!" she yelled at Tor before Emily flew over their heads, kneeing the xenomorph.

"Less talk, more killing," she told them as she swung at the xeno. It ducked under the blade and landed its own swipe against Emily's shoulder. She let out a small yelp of pain and surprise. The tail was nowhere near her shoulder, it shouldn't have been able to hit her. "What in Tartarus is this fucking thing!?"

"It seems to be able to alter the length of its tail," David remarked as he swung his sword at the xenomorph and dodged the tail.

"No shit Sherlock!" Emily responded as she swung again at the xenomorph. This time she landed a hit, bifurcating it vertically. She took a breath of relief before the two halves began to bubble. The two halves turned into two fully formed xenomorphs.

"OH COME ON!" Marina yelled.

"It's like a hydra," Emily realized immediately. She had heard enough stories about hydras to recognize something similar to it. "We need fire!"

"Tor, you and I will take on the right one. Emily, David, you two take on the left one," Marina remarked before she got up and slammed her shield against the right xenomorph. She didn't see its tail snake up behind her, but did hear the satisfying thwack of Tor smacking it away with his metal bat. "Thanks."

"Yeah, yeah," came the young man's reply as he charged the xeno. He landed an electrically charged hit on the xeno, shocking its nervous system. Marina followed this up by hitting it again with her shield, knocking it onto a group of icicles that sprouted from the ground. Tor used the opportunity to fully charge his bat and stab it into the xeno, frying it from the inside out. When it was dead he pulled his bat out to notice that it wasn't corroded by acid.

"These aren't normal xenomorphs," Marina remarked.

Meanwhile Emily and David were struggling to set their opponent of fire. It wasn't due to a lack of fire, it was due to it dodging Emily's fire bombs.

"Hold still you bastard!" she yelled as she flew above it, throwing another bomb down.

David was trying to freeze the xeno, but he was having trouble holding it together. He was too nervous. This was his first fight in the real world and he was second guessing himself. He blasted the xeno with a layer of ice, but it was quickly melted.

"DAVID! GET YOUR HEAD OUT OFF YOU ASS AND FREEZE THE DAMN THING!" Emily yelled.

That seemed to snap David out of his funk as he blasted the xeno with a massive layer of ice, allowing Emily to hit it with a fire bomb, incerating it.

"We need to get back to Adamus and Aurélie to tell them what happened," Marina remarked.

"What happened?" Diego asked as he woke up from the hit he took. He was then punched by Emily, knocking him back out.. Everyone raised an eyebrow at her.

"He caught me off guard," she responded.

"Fair enough. Now let's get going," Marina remarked as they headed off to the house.


	13. Of Lone Wolves and Growing Packs

Adamus and Aurélie were sitting in the kitchen playing with Kusa when the rest of the team got home. "Oh, so while we were fighting a freakish xenomorph, you two were playing with a ferret. Just wonderful," Emily remarked, holding her shoulder.

"WHAT?!" both Adamus and Aurélie responded.

"Yeah, a red xenomorph had come out of nowhere, slamming Diego into a wall and we were forced to fight it," David responded.

"Serves him right," Adamus remarked, making the rest of the group raise an eyebrow. "We'll tell you later, now tell us what happened."

The next few minutes were spent filling in Adamus and Aurélie what had happened. Emily spent the time getting her shoulder patched up a bit by Marina. "Thanks," Emily murmured, not liking the fact that she was the only one injured. Marina nodded in response.

Amelie was currently in control and taking notes on everything about the xenos. "So it didn't have any characteristics of hydra, but still had its 'kill one, two come back' ability. That makes no sense."

"Unless it was experimented on," David remarked.

Marina shivered when xenomorph experimentation was mentioned. "Let's hope not. The last known xenomorph experimentation resulted in a sentient xenomorph."

"The fuck is a sentient xenomorph?" Tor asked.

"A sentient xenomorph is a xeno that has had a human brain implanted in it. It results in the xeno being able to speak, think on the level similar to that of a human, use the abilities possessed by the brain's donor," Adamus explained. "All around they are dangerous creatures, especially the first, Rolmando."

"Di immortales, that's a stupid fucking name," Emily remarked. "Now you two, what happened between you two while we were fighting the unknown?"

"It's Aurélie's choice," Adamus remarked, looking at said girl as her hair shifted from green to indigo.

Aurélie nodded before telling the rest of the group what she told Adamus. Their reactions were mixed, but there was an underlying theme that they were all now angry at Diego. Marina let out a low growl. David's eyes became cold as his hand gripped the handle of his sword. Electricity began to crackle around Tor. Emily gave the only verbal response. "Good job me. You punched a guy who deserved it."

"So what is our plan of action going forward?" Marina asked.

"Well first we should figure out the answer to the elephant in the room," Adamus remarked. "Why didn't Diego recognize Aurélie or Alice?"

"You don't think it's possible he is under control of Tracker Jacker, do you?" David asked.

"Not likely," Marina responded. "Tracker Jacker can see the memories of anyone that he controls."

"Let's not worry about it," Aurélie remarked. "We have more important things to worry about."

"Tomorrow let's go out in three groups of two to try and find any suspicious activity," Adamus remarked. "I think that the best groups might be David and Emily, Marina and Tor, and myself and Aurélie."

"Of course you'd put yourself with her," Emily murmured.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Emily responded.

Adamus narrowed his eyes, but continued along. "This grouping probably works best because each group has someone who could deal with these new xenomorphs if necessary."

"How are you and Colors supposed to be able to deal with them?" Emily asked.

"Aurélie, mind explaining what I found out when I grabbed Alice's arm?"

"My sisters are made of hard-light. They are capable of producing heat. Heat means fire," Aurélie explained.

"So let me get this straight, Discount Thor is an outlet, Colors is a mobile heater, Frosty and David are freezers. So most of our team are basically just household appliances."

"Hey! I'm also trying to learn light magic," David protested.

"Ah yes. Because a lamp is _so_ much better," Emily responded.

"Why are you being so fucking antagonistic?" Marina asked.

Emily's eyes narrowed, but she didn't respond, instead heading upstairs.

"Seriously, what is her problem?"

"I don't know," Adamus remarked. "We should probably get some training in though for the day," he added, the rest of the group nodding in agreement.

Meanwhile upstairs, Emily was slashing up a mannequin in her room. It was infuriating for her that she was put on a team with two people she disliked, and three others who she didn't even know. She was a lone wolf for Zeus' sake! She disliked the plan Adamus had put in place. It would be so much easier for her tomorrow if she was off by herself. But she was going to have to deal with it, as he made a good point about the xenos. Leaving David without a way to defeat them would probably lead to many mortals dying. She sighed as she put her sword down. She was in a catch-22. She wasn't entirely sure what to do.

* * *

Later that night a knock came at Adamus's door. He went over, a little confused at what could be going on. He saw Aurélie standing in front of the door in an oversized t-shirt and sweatpants. In her hand was a DVD. She blushed a little bit when she saw Adamus in just a pair of sweatpants. "Oh, hey Aurélie," he remarked as he grabbed a shirt to put on to make her more comfortable. "What's up?"

"I was trying to see if Marina was up to watch a movie with me, but she's asleep and I still want to watch it with someone," she explained. "Would you like to watch it with me?"

"Sure," Adamus responded as he opened the door to let her in. "What is it?" he asked as she walked into the room.

"Back to the Future," she responded.

"That is a favorite among my family. In fact, Marina has a side project going on where she's trying to build her own DeLorean."

"That sounds awesome."

"Yeah," Adamus responded as he turned on the TV and DVD player. He laid down on his bed as Aurélie put the DVD in.

"Where should I sit?" she asked.

Adamus scooched over. "I guess that we will both have to lay down next to each other," he remarked. "I know that it's kinda embarrassing, but we're doing this because we're friends watching a movie together," he added, noticing a blush climb up Aurélie's face.

Aurélie nodded as she laid down. _What do I do?!_ she asked her sisters.

" _Aurélie, you like him, don't you?_ " Adele asked.

_Yes. But we all had an agreement that I wouldn't get in a relationship again after Diego so that it wouldn't happen again._

" _Aurélie, we know that Adamus isn't like Diego_ ," Adrianna responded. " _Plus what happened with DIego was 4 years ago. It might be time to try again._ "

_Fine. Fine. But we need to make the choice together and then we each individually have a date with him to see if he is fine with each of us. Agreed?_

" _Agreed,_ " her sisters all replied.

_So are each of you okay with Adamus?_

" _I'm fine with him_ ," Allison remarked. " _He's cute and have you seen his abs?_ "

" _We all just saw his abs Allison_ ," Amelie responded. " _I like him._ "

" _I like him as well. He makes me feel like I mean something. I've actually been able to develop more use in combat because of him_ ," Adele whispered.

" _He can keep up in a fight, that's good in my book_ ," Adeline added.

" _He's a cool guy, so I'm cool with him_ ," Adrianna remarked.

_Alice?_

" _I may not trust many people, but in these past two weeks I have grown to trust Adamus. So I am okay with it._ "

 _Okay. Okay._ "Ad-adamus?" Aurélie whispered.

"Yes?" he responded, turning to look at her. Indigo eyes met eyes that looked like a color wheel. She found herself unable to speak under his gaze for some reason. Adamus tilted his head at why she went silent.

"N-nevermind," she managed to get out.

Adamus had heard enough cliches to know what was going on. "You like me, don't you?" he asked. Aurélie froze up when she heard him say that. Adamus started to feel a bit awkward and started to get up before he felt Aurélie's arms wrap around him to pull him back down so that they were face to face. She hesitantly moved her head forward and connected their lips. Adamus cupped her cheek and deepened the kiss. Aurélie found herself enjoying the kiss and was a little bit sad when it ended. "When did you realize that you liked me?"

"I guess that it has been a slow build-up over the past two weeks. Today when you hugged me like you did solidified it I guess."

"Okay," Adamus responded.

"Do you like me?" Aurélie asked as she placed her head on his shoulder.

Adamus nodded. "I don't know when I started to, but I know that I do."

Aurélie let out a content sigh before she drifted off to sleep.

Adamus wrapped an arm around her shoulder. He turned off the TV before he himself drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hello everyone! I hope that you guys enjoyed my longest chapter yet, because I enjoyed writing it. I know that I probably should have split it into two separate chapters, but I felt like having two different pieces that could have wolf analogies in a single chapter was a good idea.


	14. Answers Lead to More Questions

"And what have you two been up to?" Marina asked Adamus and Aurélie next morning when she went to wake them up.

Aurélie was alert instantly as she stumbled out of the bed. "Nothing!" she exclaimed.

"We were just watching a movie and fell asleep," Adamus remarked.

Marina raised an eyebrow, like she knew there was more behind it, but it wasn't her place to press. "Breakfast is in 10 minutes," she told them as she left.

"When should we tell them?" Aurélie asked.

"Later," Adamus responded. "It's better that way if we don't tell them right away."

"Oh, Adamus, there's something that me and my sisters agreed on before I confessed to you. You have to take each of us individually on a date."

"Sounds simple enough," Adamus responded.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. I have been prepared to go to the ends of the Earth for my friends. And as one of my friends, that applies to you."

"Thanks," Aurélie responded before she headed to her room to change.

When both of them came downstairs they noticed that Emily and David had already left. "Where are they?"

"They left already," Tor remarked. "David wanted a start on the day."

"Emily was not happy about that," Marina added.

"I imagine," Adamus remarked, knowing fully well that his roommate was a morning person. "So who is cooking breakfast?"

"Zat would be me," a man remarked with a French accent so stereotypical that Aurélie cringed a bit.

"Oh, hey Phoenix," Adamus greeted.

"Hello Adamus."

"Why is your accent so stereotypical?" Aurélie asked.

"Oh. I am older zan France, so ze stereotypical French accent is my normal accent."

"Ah. So what brings you here?" Aurélie asked.

"Panto and Lix asked me to help with ze training of you guys while you guys are here."

Tor looked at Phoenix, he didn't look too impressive. His clothes were patchwork and he was a skinny man who didn't look like he posed much of a threat. "And you're supposed to do that how?"

Phoenix burst into flames and his skin melted away to reveal a skeleton. "Did you assume zat my human form made me weaker zan you?"

"THAT'S AWESOME!" Adrianna yelled.

"I am ze first Ghost Rider, ze Spirit of Vengeance," Phoenix remarked. "And I am going to train you all to ze best of my abilities."

"HA! And I thought that Alice was hot stuff," the orange haired girl remarked.

"Well, let's eat and then we can go out," Marina remarked.

* * *

"Why did we have to go out so early?!" Emily complained.

"Because when we go out early, we are more likely to find something," David replied.

"I hate your logic Tennis Star," Emily responded.

"Not your best nickname," David retorted.

"Shut up."

"What happened to all that bark from yesterday?"

Emily grabbed his shirt. "I am getting sick and tired of your questions. I am going along with you because it makes sense. I am not your friend, so just stop it."

"Hey, I'm just looking out for a teammate."

Emily let go of his shirt. _I'm just tired and cranky._ she told herself, justifying her action.

"What is our plan if we run into those xenos again?" David asked.

"Same as yesterday." David was about to ask something else before Emily placed a hand over his mouth and pulled him into a side alley. David was about to ask what before he saw what she had seen. It was a giant red xenomorph that seemed to not be interested in the mortals around it. David looked at it before two things caught his eye. The first was that other red xenos crawled out of it. The other was a red stone in its forehead.

"I'll stay here, you go report to the rest of the group," David whispered to Emily. She nodded as she was in shock of the creature that stood before them. She activated her shoes and flew back to the house, arriving in minutes. The others were preparing to leave as she landed.

"David and I may have found the origins of the xenos!" she told the others, their eyes going wide.

"Where?" Adamus asked. Emily quickly led the group back to where she left David, only to find the Lunarian missing


	15. What to do? What to do?

The group spent the rest of the day scouring the town looking for David with no avail. Emily flew quickly through the sky, looking for him from a bird's eye view, while everyone else was on the ground looking for him. They all returned back to the house dejected, but none more than Adamus and Emily. They both felt like they had some responsibility in David's disappearance.

Adamus was in the backyard punching a tree. He felt like he was in charge of this mission while Panto and Lix weren't here. He came up with the idea to split them up in groups of two. If he had gone with groups of three instead, his best friend wouldn't be missing. He punched the tree again, splintering it.

"Ad?" Marina called out to her brother. She stood at the back of the building watching him with concern. "We're talking about what we are going to do next. We want your opinion."

"Why? It was my plan that caused David to disappear."

"You could have had no idea that it would have happened," Marina responded.

"But I could have prevented it!" His voice shook a bit as he spoke. "You wouldn't get it Marina."

"No. But I know what it's like to be captured," Marina responded. "And standing around wallowing in grief doesn't help us rescue David. And I bet that he is thinking the same thing that I did when I was captured. 'When will my friends come rescue me?' And with two members of our team blaming themselves for his capture. And I keep saying capture because it is very unlikely he just disappeared. Now tell me, where is the Adamus that was looking for his sister when she was captured?"

"I'm still him Marina, I just don't know what to do."

"Fine. Come back inside when you know what to do," Marina remarked as she walked back inside to find Aurélie waiting. "You can try talking to him. But I am going to go help Tor and Emily figure out a plan."

Aurélie headed out, rubbing her shoulders a bit from the cold. "Adamus," she whispered, walking over to him. "Are you okay?"

"How can I be?" he responded. "My best friend is missing, probably captured. And it's all my fault." He punched the ground, causing a small fissure to form.

Aurélie lightly grabbed his shoulder and turned him around to face her. Her hair and eyes turned blue as Adele. The anxious girl pulled him into a hug and squeezed him tightly. "It isn't your fault," she told him, her voice having a confidence not normally there. "It can't be your fault."

"But Adele, it was my plan-" He was cut off by the blue-haired girl kissing him.

"Adamus. Unless you were the one who planned his disappearance, it is not your fault," she whispered.

"Adele, are you feeling okay? This isn't normally like you."

"I'm okay," she replied. "I am normally the one to cheer up my sisters if they ever feel down. I am doing the same thing with you."

Adamus scratched the back of his neck. "Thanks."

"You don't have to come inside, but I'd like it if you did," she murmured.

"Okay," Adamus responded as the two of them headed inside, Aurélie taking back over.

Inside the other three were talking. "Those xenomorphs had to have something to do with it," Emily claimed.

"Obviously," Marina remarked. "But it begs the question whether or not Tracker Jacker is also behind it."

"There's another possibility," Adamus responded as he and Aurélie entered the room. "I am thinking that maybe Tracker Jacker is working with someone else from Primordial Chaos's old followers."

"What makes you think that?" Marina asked.

"From the stories we've heard about him Mar," Adamus responded. "He isn't the most sane of mind. So for him to be waiting for a chance to strike, I find it unlikely. He is most likely working with someone then. Or under someone. That leaves very few candidates. Truk, Mr. 756, Sinnerstar, von Light, Rolmando, Nrp, and Cham were influential in Primordial Chaos's group. We can eliminate Truk and Mr. 756 because they don't like the long game. Von Light is currently imprisoned, so that eliminates him. It is unlikely to be Cham without the rest of the Serpentine Six in tow. And why use Tracker Jacker when you have Hypbro."

"That's another stupid name," Emily remarked.

"That leaves Sinnerstar, Rolmando, and Nrp," Adamus continued. "And considering the fact that we have suspicions of xenomorph experimentation going on, I am apt to believe that it is Rolmando."

"Oh great! Someone who can jack your body and a being so dangerous that only one of them was made," Emily remarked. "That's what we're up against?"

"I said that I think Rolmando could be involved. Not that he is. But if you think that you are in over your head, you can leave."

Emily gritted her teeth. "I'm not a quitter Adamus. I am finishing this mission and rescuing David."

"Glad we are in agreement. And that brings me to something else." He looked at everyone. "From now on, if one person goes somewhere, at least one other person goes with them. Understood?"

"As long as we are still getting action, I am okay with it," Tor remarked. The others nodded in agreement, although Emily had something else to add.

"I am going to tell you all this once. If I have to fly off to do something, you will have to keep up."

"Luckily Tor and I actually came up with something," Marina responded. She quickly ran up to her room and came down with a blueprint. "I think we can all agree that this is a good idea for getting around," she added as she spread the blueprint across the table.

Adamus looked at Marina and Tor. "How long until you guys can make this?"

"Give us a week and it will be done," Tor remarked.

Emily looked at the blueprint. It was a DeLorean. "And how is this supposed to help us. I take a direct route and I am pretty sure that there aren't roads going through people's houses to allow for a car to follow."

Marina and Admaus looked at each other. "Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads."

* * *

David felt the burlap sack be roughly yanked from his head. He opened his eyes to see a lady standing before him. "David Ishihara, it is good to see that you have arrived. I am Death. And I have many plans for you and your friends."


	16. A Talk with Death

David regarded the woman in front of him. She definitely had some qualities he ascribed to Death. She had pale skin. Even looking at it made David feel cold. Her eyes were black with no emotions behind them. But many characteristics were surprising. For starters, her hair looked like it was made of gold. It reflected the little light present in the room. Most people would have described Death as being so skinny, you could see her bones, if she had skin at all, but David found her to be of average size. And her smile. Unlike her skin, looking at it gave David a sense of warmth.

"Surprised by my appearance?" Death asked.

"Yeah. Some descriptions of you are dead wrong."

Death chuckled a bit at his pun. "So, the Philosopher can tell a good joke or two?"

David was slightly caught off guard by being called the Philosopher. "How do you know that about me?"

"Simple. I have heard that the next generation of heroes was meant to defeat me. So I have watched everyone with hero potential born after the defeat of my nephew because as Sun Tzu once so eloquently said, 'If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy…'"

"'For every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle," David finished. "So why reveal yourself to me? Because then I'd know my enemy."

"The answer is simple David. I am offering you a choice. You can either turn away and I'll let you and your family live, or you can continue this fight and I will be forced to eliminate you."

"But why me?"

"The rest of your group irritates me or I have personal reasons. Marina and Adamus are the children of Panto Mime-Mectix, the host of my niece. While I don't hate my niece, hurting her will hurt my sister. My sister who is always getting in my way when it comes to the matters of death. I could deal with most of the Duax sisters, but the red one would be difficult to convince. I have reason to believe that you will listen to me and turn away."

"What is your plan?"

"Oh. It's simple. I am gathering my nephew's old comrades to help me retake total control over life and death. For that I need something powerful. But I can't tell you what that would be as then you'd be able to stop me easier. Now tell me David, are you going to want to try and stop me or turn away? Either way, I'll let you go. I may be Death, but I don't like to do the killing myself."

David looked her in the eyes. "'You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.' If I walk away, I will become the villain."

"Of course." She waved her hand and David was transported back to where he was taken from. He quickly ran back to the base, he had to tell the others what he found out.

Outside the base Tor and Marina were working on the DeLorean. Tor was working on the car itself while Marina was working on the hover tech to allow the car to fly. When they saw David approaching they both looked shocked. "Tor, zap him," Marina remarked.

David was about to protest before he was hit with a couple volts of electricity. He twitched a bit before collapsing. "What was that about?!"

"Sorry. You can never be too sure with Tracker Jacker about. How did you even escape?"

"She allowed me to," David responded.

"She?"

"Gather everyone in the kitchen and I'll explain."


	17. Fight, Fight, Revelation

Once everyone was gathered in the kitchen David told them what he had found out. The reactions were mixed.

"So what you're telling us is that we were lied to about this mission?" Emily asked.

"I don't think he means that," Adamus remarked. "It just means that Mom and Aunt Lix didn't have all the information."

"That or they knew and didn't tell us," Emily retorted.

"Hey. It doesn't matter. Our mission remains the same," Aurélie remarked. "We find Tracker Jacker and then we help capture him."

"I zink zat I have a guess about what Death is looking for," Phoenix remarked. "Ze stone in ze giant xenomorph. Someone should be watching zat at all times."

"You're right. Or at least we should tap into nearby cameras to watch it," Adamus added before turning to Aurélie and Marina. "Can one of you do it?"

"It should be a cake walk for Amelie," Aurélie remarked. "She says she'll get right on it after this meeting."

"Good. Now, we should probably get some training done for today," Adamus remarked. "Marina, Tor, you guys can join us later, get some more work done on making the DeLorean." The two teens nodded before heading out.

The remaining teens went into the training room where they partnered up. Adamus and Aurélie and David and Emily. Adamus and Aurélie began to square off first. Aurélie's hair turned yellow before Adamus held up his hand. "Sorry Adeline, but I want to fight Alice today," he remarked as he pressed his hand on the linoleum floor. His skin took on the same glossy color of the floor as it looked like he absorbed the material into his body, much to the shock of everyone.

"How long have you been able to do that?!" David asked.

"Just now. It was a gut feeling I had."

"I can now see why you wanted to fight me," Alice remarked.

"Yup. Adeline has better fighting technique, but you are physically stronger. Perfect to test the limits of Externa."

"You might want something stronger than linoleum though."

"I know that you won't try to hurt me too much," Adamus remarked with a smile.

"Oh, I am definitely going to wipe that smile off of your face," Alice responded as she got into a fighting stance. Adamus charged at her and the two of them locked into a grapple. The two of them threw massive punches against each other. Adamus dodged and weaved a few times, but every time Alice landed a strike his armor cracked a bit. Adamus backed away a bit to try to reform the armor, but Alice kept the pressure up. Adamus attempted to sweep her leg, but she jumped over it and landed a kick to the young man's chest. Adamus stumbled back into the brick wall of the room. He pressed his hand against the wall and absorbed it. Alice threw another punch at him. Adamus ducked the punch, of which pulverized the wall. She threw another punch at him, this time though instead of dodging, he caught her arm and used the momentum to sling her into the wall. He then grabbed her arms and pinned her to the wall.

"Looks like I win," he remarked.

"Not yet," she replied before kneeing him in the crotch. Even though it was protected, it still hurt like hell.

"Fuck!" he yelled, the armor disappearing.

Aurélie took over and helped him up. "Sorry," she whispered, feeling the need to apologize for Alice.

"It's fine," he winced as David came over and handed him an ice pack. Adamus went over to sit in the stands with the ice pack on his sore area.

"What happened!?" Marina yelled as she and Tor entered.

"Alice kneed Adamus in the balls," Emily remarked. "Which is a low blow by the way."

Alice took back over to shrug and say, "We're training to fight villains. Fighting fair isn't the worst of my concerns."

"Di immortales Alice. We're allies. We still need to be concerned about the safety of others," Marina retorted.

Aurélie took back over. "Alice isn't one for gentleness. Sorry."

"Fine. Fine. Let's just keep these spars going," David remarked as he stood up and unsheathed his sword.

Emily followed, standing across from him. She activated her shoes and pulled out her sword. "You know, you should invest in a shield, Knight-Boy."

"Tennis Star was better," David responded. "And I've been thinking of it. I learned in most of my spars that I lack defense. Also, please no firebombs."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't want to burn the building down," Emily responded before flying at him. David barely had enough time to deflect her first swing, but didn't expect her 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th swings to happen quickly afterwards. She was a literal blur in the sky and David couldn't keep up to block her swings. Instead he created a massive ice wall that Emily bashed through. It slowed her down enough to allow David to land a hit on her leg, knocking off one of her shoes. She fell out of the air onto David, the two of them becoming a mass of limbs. Marina and Adamus went over to help their roommates up.

"So who wins?" Marina asked.

"Neither of them," Adamus answered with a chuckle.

"It won't be a tie next time Ishihara," Emily remarked.

"It would be rather disappointing if it was Bayliss," David responded.

"Now it is Tor and Marina," Aurélie remarked.

"I'm actually pretty tired, maybe tomorrow," Marina yawned before heading upstairs. Adamus knew she was lying, so he followed his sister upstairs. He knocked on her door. "Come in!" Marina yelled.

Adamus opened the door to see Marina spraying herself with something. "You forgot to do that this morning, didn't you?" he asked.

"Yeah," she admitted.

"Mar, when will you trust others enough with your secret?" Adamus asked.

"When I know they won't hate me for it," she responded.

"Fine. Can I at least see the true form of my sister?"

Marina nodded as her form disappeared. She no longer looked human. Instead she was a xenomorph.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hello everyone! I am pleased with how this chapter came out. I hope that you enjoyed the fights and the little twist at the end. Please review if you have anything to say.


	18. Memento Morph

_Four years ago:_

14 year old Adamus and Marina were sitting outside of their house watching as Panto and Six took off in their car. "Where do you think they are going at this time?" Marina asked. "It's summer, they can't be needed at the school."

"They are probably out on a mission," Adamus responded.

"When do you think we'll go on our first mission?"

"When we have a better grasp of our powers is what Mom says."

"But I have a good grasp of my powers," Marina complained. "Watch," she told him before freezing and unfreezing a tree in their front yard. "I should be able to go on a mission."

"So the little girl wants to go on a mission," a voice chuckled from the shadows.

Both Marina and Adamus jumped up, with Kusa slipping out of Adamus's shirt to transform into a giant hellhound with a growl. "Who is there?" Marina asked.

"Why, I'm an old friend of your grandfather," the voice remarked before a figure stepped out of the shadows. It was a man in his late 30s with a portly figure, greasy brown hair, and these startling white eyes, the kind used to convey blindness in movies. "My name is Hugo von Light."

That was all Marina needed to hear before shooting a blast of ice at the man. He disappeared in a puff of white smoke before appearing behind the two of them and landing a kick to the back of Adamus's head, knocking him out cold. "Look at what your lack of manners made me do. I simply came here to talk, but if you want a fight, then you shall get one."

"Kusa, protect Adamus, I got this," Marina told the chimæra before shooting another ice blast at the man. He disappeared once more and reappeared behind Marina, where he pinned her to the ground. Marina began to thrash under his grasp, but his grip held tight.

"Poor Marina Mime-Mectix, so used to fighting on equal or greater footing, you don't even know how to recognize when you've been thoroughly beaten. Well let's see if you know when you've been broken." He knocked her unconscious and then disappeared.

When Marina regained consciousness later, she was strapped down to a table. She began to thrash around before von Light's voice snapped at her. "Quit it, it will only make things more difficult." Marina stopped thrashing as she heard something else thrashing beside her. She looked to her left and was horrified to see a xenomorph strapped down so close to her.

"What are you going to do to me," she asked, fear evident in her voice.

"Oh come on. You're a smart girl, shouldn't it be obvious?"

Marina racked her brains for a bit before coming to the only obvious conclusion. She looked at where von Light's voice was coming from, terrified.

"Oh yes. Your family has killed countless xenomorphs, so I thought to myself, 'how would they react if one of their own became a xenomorph?'" von Light cackled. "I hope that you enjoyed your last day as a human Ms. Mime-Mectix, because this process is permanent."

Marina was going to protest, but her eyes began to feel heavy before she drifted off again.

Over the next few hours, days, weeks, Marina didn't know, she saw flashes of surgical equipment. When she fully came to she looked at herself and screamed. Except that it wasn't a scream and was one of those clicking noises a xenomorph made. She began to thrash some more, even attempting, but failing, to freeze the restraints, before von Light's voice caught her attention once more. "Don't worry, your voice and powers will return shortly, but by then you'll be in a prison cell, while I prepare to condition you." Von Light went over to her table and tilted her head to her right. What she saw chilled her to the bone. It was her body, her human body, with the top of its head removed. She looked at her eyes to see that they were lifeless. Internally she was brought to tears as externally she made these strangled cries. Von Light then wheeled her out of a room and into a jail cell where she spent the next few days.

Von Light hadn't lied to her, her powers and voice did eventually return. There was nothing she could do though. She was powerless. Even if she could escape, she didn't know where she was, or if her family would recognize her. She just spent most of her days sitting there defeated. Broken.

One day the entire building shook with the force of the Tsar Bomba as a powerful voice roared, "VON LIGHT!" Marina's heart leapt. It was Kurt. Her grandfather had come to save her. And he sounded pissed. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY GRANDDAUGHTER YOU BASTARD!?"

Marina pressed herself against the door to her cell and yelled at the top of her lungs. "I'M IN HERE! HELP!" The sound of footsteps quickly approached her cell. She pulled back a bit as Adamus, Panto, and Six. They all looked hopeful to find her, but their faces fell when they saw her.

"It's just one of those voice mimicking xenos," Adamus snarled before he activated his wrist gauntlet, prepared to strike her down. There was rage in his eyes as he pulled back his arm to strike.

"Ad, Mom, Dad," Marina croaked out, wanting them to recognize her.

Hearing his annoying nickname made Adamus hesitate. "Mar?" he whispered back at her.

Marina let out a strangled cry of relief at being recognized. "I want to go home," she managed to get out.

"Stand back," Six told everyone before he punched the door off of the hinges. The family rushed Marina and hugged her tightly, her dry sobbing as she let it happen. She was so happy to finally be free.

The next few weeks were spent with Marina trying to adjust to her new life as a xeno. Panto bought her a spray can that would make her look human. She learned how to keep her xenomorph abilities under control. It was a difficult period for everyone with the sudden change to their lives.

* * *

_Present:_

Some nights Marina lay awake in bed, frozen as the memories of those days hit her. Tonight was one such night. The past few days with the mention of xenomorph experimentation as well as her almost revealing herself, caused her stress beyond belief. She wished that she could go back and be normal again. That was the only thought in her head as she curled up and cried herself to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: And there you go, an explanation onto what the ending of last chapter was about. Also thanks go out to my friend Void over on FFN for this chapter's title.


	19. Feeling Yellow?

The first thing that Marina heard when she came downstairs was, "You look terrible Frosty."

"I just couldn't sleep last night," Marina yawned to the redhead.

"Adamus wants us all in the kitchen," Emily told her, before heading there herself. Marina followed and immediately went to make herself a cup of coffee.

"Good, we're all here," Adamus remarked. "Thinking about everything that David told us, I think that we're in way over our heads. We need to tell everyone at the school what we learned and have them send in people better suited for this."

"What?!" Tor yelled. "That's the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard. We were entrusted with this mission, but you want to back down because of something unexpected?"

"We didn't expect this. We probably wouldn't have been chosen for this mission if it was known what we would be dealing with."

"So? That doesn't mean that we should run away."

"It gives the best chance of success."

"So you think that running away like a coward is the best idea?!"

Marina was about to slap Tor for calling her brother a coward, but Alice had beaten her to the punch, slamming Tor against the wall. "Don't call him a coward ever again," she snarled. She let him go before turning to Adamus. "But he's right. We were given a mission to find Tracker Jacker. The mission only got harder. Not impossible."

"I just think that there's a higher chance of success if we have back up," Adamus explained.

"Exactly Ad," Marina remarked. "You _think_ that it is a higher chance of success. You don't know that it is." She gestured to everyone else. "Look at this group and our powers. Emily is a flying Flash."

"Quicksilver," Emily corrected.

"Whatever," Marina responded. "David is a master swordsman who can use ice magic. I can create ice constructs and can figure out most things given the time. You are an excellent leader who can absorb matter and can control the Earth to some degree. And we might still have more powers to unlock. Tor, to use Emily's nickname for him, is a discount Thor. And look at your girlfriend-"

"We're not dating," Aurélie protested. "Yet," she quietly added.

"Oh, well then when you two are, let me know so that I can actually call you boyfriend and girlfriend," Marina responded with a smirk. "Anyway, look at Aurélie and her sisters. Her sisters are made of hard light and invincible-"

"Actually darkness can hurt them. Like weapons made of shadows," Aurélie explained.

"Okay. So they are virtually invincible and each of them have something that they bring to the table in their personality. I don't think that a better group could be assembled."

"But what if something else crops up?" Adamus asked, giving Marina a look that said, 'Like your secret being revealed.' "We can't even work together as a cohesive team. How are we supposed to do our job effectively?"

"By talking to each other and making compromises," David remarked. "To quote Ali Harris, 'Compromise is what binds people together. Compromise is sharing and conciliatory, it is loving and kind and unselfish.'"

"Eyyyy. I knew Philosophy Boy was going to have a quote for this situation," Marina remarked.

"I guess," Adamus responded, running a hand through his hair.

"You know what, it's obvious that you aren't ready for a mission today," Aurélie remarked. "So you are going on the first date."

"Oooooh. A date," Marina teased. "I thought you said you weren't dating."

"We aren't. We had an agreement that if he could survive going on a date with me and all of my sisters individually, then we'll be dating."

"Sounds difficult," Marina remarked.

"So who do you choose first?" Aurélie asked Adamus.

"Adeline," he responded, expecting their date to just be them brawling.

"Bring your wallet along Adamus," Adeline told him. "We're going shopping."

Marina snickered a bit. She knew Adamus didn't like to go shopping.

* * *

"Is there anything else you are going to get?" Adamus asked. The two of them had gone to a mall in the town over from Wilkson's Garden. Adeline had gone a little far in her shopping. He was holding about 20 bags from just as many stores.

"Just one more store," she replied, heading towards a tech store where a large crowd seemed to be gathered outside. The pair of them were able to hear a conversation from a pair of nearby girls.

"Why do you think he's here?"

"I heard that he was looking for up and coming inventors that he could help get patents for their inventions."

"Do you think that he's also looking for models for his new clothing line?"

Adeline froze when she heard that. _There's no way._ "You know Adamus, I think that I actually have enough stuff," she lied. She was a bit upset that she wouldn't be able to get some more bits of tech, but it was better than the alternative.

Adamus raised an eyebrow, but decided it was best to listen. They began to walk away when a new voice was heard. "Excuse me. Sorry everyone, but I must go. I'd love to stay and chat with all you wonderful people," a man remarked as he made his way through the crowd. His eyes landed on Adeline and Adamus and they widened a bit. "Adeline?" he called out.

The yellow haired girl turned around with a smile. "Hey Papa."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hello everyone. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. We'll elaborate more on the ending in the next chapter. See you next time.


	20. Fatherly Exposition

"Hey Papa," Adeline greeted her dad with a smile. Adamus looked between the two of them and noticed the resemblance between them. It was mainly in their facial structure. They had the same nose, the same eye shape, and even the same smile.

"What are you doing here?" Adeline's father asked. "And who's this young man?"

"This is Adamus, he's a friend from school."

"We should probably get away from the crowds Mr. Duax," Adamus remarked.

"Oh please. Call me Arthur. But you probably have the right idea Adamus. That is such a peculiar name. Where is it from?" Arthur asked as the three of them walked away from the crowds.

"It's a name that my mom gave me after one of her friends."

"Very interesting. Now why are you two here of all places? I thought that your new school was up in space."

"It is Papa," Aurélie told him, taking back over. "We're just on a mission."

"On a mission? But you only started school two weeks ago. Who's idea was it to let two 18 year-olds go on a mission two weeks into school?"

"Actually Arthur, we have 4 other members of our team in the next town over."

"Well why are you in this town then?"

"Adeline wanted to go shopping Papa," Aurélie explained. "And there was no shopping center where our mission is, so we went here instead."

"Okay. But surely there's an adult supervising this mission, right? I don't want my girls to be on a mission without supervision."

"Yeah. We have Phoenix," Adamus replied. "Though he mainly monitors the safe house because of his… condition."

"What condition? Are my girls being supervised by a lunatic?"

"No. Phoenix's condition is more mystical than medical," Adamus replied as they reached the beaten up car that was their method of transportation until Marina and Tor finished the DeLorean.

"I say, for having a school in space, there isn't a lot of money being spent on transportation."

"It's supposed to be inconspicuous Papa," Aurélie explained. "Like you and your car," she added, pointing to her father's car a few parking spots away. It didn't look like something a fashion designer/inventor would drive.

"Fair enough. Well, let's take a drive back to where you're staying. We can talk there."

Both Aurélie and Adamus nodded before getting into the car. They waited for Arthur before driving off back to the house, Arthur's car following closely behind them. 30 minutes later they pulled up to the abandoned building that was their base.

"My word. Do you seriously stay in this place?" Arthur asked as he and Adamus began to take Adeline's bags out of the car.

"Yessir," Adamus replied. "Now if you'll follow us inside please," he added before walking inside himself. Aurélie and her father followed him in, Arthur's jaw hitting the floor when he saw the interior.

"What?" he asked, practically speechless.

"Welcome to our base of operations," Adamus told him before setting down the bags he was holding in the living room. "Guys, we're home!" Adamus called out to the others.

"We're in the kitchen!" Marina called back.

The three of them head into the kitchen to find that Marina and Tor had commandeered the island in the center to build their hover tech. Well Marina was building it, Tor was watching with an intent gaze. Emily and David were off to the side, both of them sharpening their swords. Phoenix meanwhile was at the stove cooking food for the night. He currently had his appearance set to "flaming skeleton" which took Arthur by surprise.

"What is going on?" he asked.

"Ah. Mr. Duax, a pleasure to meet you, your daughters are wonderful people," Phoenix remarked.

"How do you know how I am?"

"Simple. I am ze Ghost Rider, I can read a person's soul."

"Yeah. Yeah. Totally simple."

"Papa, maybe you should sit down," Aurélie told her father before directing him into a seat next to where Marina and Tor were working.

"Everyone, we bumped into Aurélie's father while Adeline and I were shopping," Adamus explained.

"Wait, there's someone new here?" Tor asked, finally looking up. He spotted Aurélie's dad before going back to watching Marina work.

Arthur had also begun watching the young girl work. His eyes glistened with mirth as he watched her hands expertly cut and cross wires, fit parts together, and even tighten up the bolts of the piece. The way she did it made her look like an expert. "Who taught you how to build such complex machinery so easily?"

"I'm mainly self-taught, though I also picked up a few things from watching Grant."

"Who is Grant?"

"Oh Papa, you'd get along really well with him. He is a genius, they say he's the smartest person in the universe. He's figured out a way to incorporate magic into his inventions."

That revelation left the man stunned. His daughter knew the smartest man in the universe. "He's also one of your teachers, right?"

This got a chorus of laughter from everyone else. "Oh Grandfather no," Marina laughed. "Grant is like a cat, he's easily distracted."

"'Oh Grandfather no,'" Arthur repeated. "That's a peculiar phrase."

"Well people who know Adamus and Marina's grandfather know that he created ze universe," Phoenix explained. "So zey, namely ze Sixteen, came up wiz ze turn of phrase, 'Oh Kurt.'"

"And Ad and I say 'Oh Grandfather.' Though if you took a look at our DNA you wouldn't see his DNA there because he doesn't have any. It is mainly a thing that we do because he bioengineered our father," Marina explained.

Arthur looked blown away by all this information. It seemed so insane. Two of his daughters' friends were grandchildren of the man who created the universe. And that man had such a simple name such as Kurt. Sure he could believe that a school was built in space and that fantastical creatures had always existed. He had been 13 when the news had been dropped on the world that magic and monsters existed. If he had received this news as well back then, he would probably have taken it in stride as well. Then a thought crossed his mind. "Wait a minute. The headmaster of the school and his wife, the pair that came to our house to invite you to the school, those were…"

"Kurt50Alien and Baba Yaga. Kurt being the creator of the universe and Baba being his wife who was dead for 2000 years before being revived 30 years ago," Aurélie explained.

Arthur remembered back to the meeting he had with Kurt and Baba a few months ago and began to laugh a bit. "It's good to know that even the creator of the universe is scatterbrained." That got a snicker from Phoenix, Adamus, and Marina. "Now, how about introductions? I'll start, I am Arthur Duax, Aurélie's father."

"Nice to meet you Mr. Duax," David greeted as he sheathed his sword. "I am David Ishihara, a good friend of your daughters."

"We call him Philosophy Boy," Marina added before introducing herself. "I am Marina Mime-Mectix, Adamus's twin sister."

"Fascinating. Is the reason why you two look nothing alike because of your grandfather?"

"Yes and no," Adamus explained. "It is partially due to him, but the other part is due to the forced experimentation done to our mother at a young age."

"That's terrible!" Arthur exclaimed. The rest of the group shared looks of sympathy. They hadn't heard that about Panto.

"Anyway, onto a less… disturbing note, I am Emily Bayliss, Daughter of Hermes."

"Hermes? As in the Greek God of Thieves?"

"Among other things."

Arthur turned his attention to Tor. "And you young man?"

"Tor Zephyr," he responded, that being the only information he was going to divulge.

"Now everyone, dinner is ready, so Marina, put your project away please," Phoenix remarked. Marina did as told as dinner began to be served.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: And there we have it. Another new chapter, this one being a more laid back one. I hope you liked it.


	21. Donuts and Divulging Information

The next morning Aurélie walked down stairs to see her father and Phoenix having a conversation over a cup of coffee. Her father had decided to stay the night.

"So your accent isn't actually a stereotypical French accent because you're older than France."

"Exactly. I was born 3000 years ago where I garnered lots of attention as ze wisest man in ze world."

"That is such an interesting title, do you still hold it?"

"No. I am now ze wisest man in ze universe."

"Oh. And how does this wiseness translate into battle?"

"I use ze many experiences zat I gained, from my time before, during, and after working for ze Devil as his soul collector, and formulate many strategies zat I use against my opponents."

"You must be great at chess."

"Never lost a fair game."

"Now that's an impressive feat," Arthur responded before turning to see Aurélie standing in the doorway. "Aurélie! How well did you sleep last night?"

"I slept wonderfully Papa. What were you two talking about?"

"Oh this and that. His past. My past. What's it like being on fire? Normal conversations." Her father gave a grin that made Aurélie laugh.

"Normal for us at least."

"He also told me about how well you girls are excelling at school. I was shocked at first to hear how all seven of you went toe to toe with one of your combat teachers."

"We lost that fight though."

"'Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn,'" David quoted as he entered the kitchen with two boxes of donuts. "Robert T. Kiyosaki," he added, stating the name of the person who said the quote. "Dunkin Donuts, you can find one in practically every American town," he chuckled as he placed the boxes down and opened them up. There was a wide selection of donuts in the box. "There are 8 of us here, so 3 for each of us. I didn't know what most people wanted so I got as many different kinds of donuts as I could."

"Did you get a plain donut?" Adamus asked as he entered the kitchen, Kusa laying across his shoulders in her lemur form.

"Yup. I got a single one. I had a feeling you'd give Kusa one."

Adamus nodded as he grabbed the plain donut from the box and broke off a piece, giving it to Kusa. The chimæra nibbled on it with a happy chitter.

Arthur looked at Kusa with an inquisitive gaze. "How have you been able to tame such an exotic creature?"

"Oh. Well Kusa is definitely exotic for Earth, but on Loric, where my powers originate from, her kind, the chimæra, are comparable to a house pet."

"You know Ad, you've never explained what a chimæra is," Aurélie remarked.

"They're shapeshifters. They can transform into most animals present in the universe."

"That's fascinating," Arthur remarked. "How do they do it?"

"I'm not too sure."

Suddenly a roar ripped through their conversation, putting everyone on alert. "Mr. Duax, stay here while we go check zat out," Phoenix remarked, transforming from his unassuming human form into his Ghost Rider form. He ran outside with David, Adamus, and Aurélie following him. In the distance they saw the red xenomorph rising over the buildings.

"That's bad."

"It's in pain," Marina remarked as she jumped out of her bedroom window and landed next to them.

"Are you sure?" David asked.

"Yes," Marina responded.

"How are you sure?" Aurélie asked.

"Zat's not important," Phoenix interrupted.

"Yes it is," Emily retorted as she and Tor arrived. "If we don't know why she's sure, then we can't be sure that it is in pain."

Marina looked at Adamus, distressed. She realized that she had slipped up and needed a way out of the corner she had backed herself into. Adamus didn't know how to help her, he just gave her a look that said, 'it might be time.'

Marina turned to the rest of the group, she looked like she was on the verge of breaking down. "P-please don't hate me," she pleaded as she shed her glamours, revealing her form as a xenomorph.

Everyone besides Phoenix, Adamus, and Aurélie froze in shock. Both Phoenix and Adamus had obviously known. Amelie had figured it out through some of the peculiarities of Marina and she had told Aurélie. Aurélie didn't want to tell anyone to protect her friend, but she realized now that she made a mistake by asking how Marina knew.

Marina backed away from the group and fled before anyone could say anything.


	22. Rage's Compassion

Marina sat in the corner of her room, hyperventilating. She revealed herself to everyone, she saw their looks, they were all disgusted and wanted her dead. She had become caught up in such a torrent of emotions that she hadn't even noticed when her door opened up a tiny bit with Adele, Alice, and Adrianna peeking in.

"Should we comfort her?" Adele asked.

"You two can, I'll stand out here to hold Emily and Tor off if they come storming up here to kill her," Alice told her sisters.

Adele and Adrianna slipped inside the room. "Mar-Marina," Adele whispered, afraid that she might lash out at them.

Marina turned and looked at them, her form was flickering between human and xenomorph, her tail the only thing remaining visible at all times. When she looked human her eyes conveyed something that actually scared the two girls more than her xenomorph form, pure dread and despair. "So you sent people to try and pacify me before killing me, huh?" she asked, acceptance in her voice. She knew that she couldn't fight off everyone.

"No one is going to kill you," Adele told her.

"Yeah. Not with Alice standing guard," Adrianna added. "The only people who want to kill you are Emily and Tor. David is unsure though."

"That makes me feel _so_ much better," Marina sardonically replied. "But I'm not surprised by that. Who wouldn't want me dead after learning that I am a monster?"

"And are we dead meat?" Adrianna asked. "None of the Duax family is even considering wanting you dead."

"Well you should," she muttered. "I am a creature filled with bloodlust that I am only somewhat able to keep in check."

"And do you want me dead?" Alice asked from the doorway.

"Why are you even asking that? It isn't even pertinent to the conversation."

"Did you forget that I am Aurélie's rage?" Alice responded. "How many times do you think that I have sat in her subconscious, stewing in murderous intent? The few times that I have actually acted upon my feelings, people were hospitalized. From what I understand, you are much better at holding back than I am. And no one wants to kill me."

"Because you terrify people!" Marina protested. "No one wants to try to kill you because you seem to be this untouchable force."

"You really think that I am untouchable? You don't know me at all then."

"People also don't kill you because you look human and are human," Marina added.

"I don't know if that is even true. Humans are supposed to be able to feel such a wide array of emotions, yet I am boiled down to being rage and contempt. Do you really think that a normal human feels only those feelings."

"You still love your sisters."

"And you love your brother," Alice shot back as she moved closer to Marina.

"We'll just wait outside," Adele squeaked as she pulled Adrianna out of the room.

"You also love my brother."

"I don't know if I do. I just know that Aurélie likes him. For all I know that could be the entire basis for why he doesn't annoy me. I am nothing without Aurélie. You are your own person. I could disappear and no one would search for me. People would search for you." Alice sat down on the edge of Marina's bed and looked at her. "I merely exist as an extension of Aurélie."

Marian gazed at the red-haired girl thoughtfully. "Sounds like we both have existential crises of sorts," she whispered.

"Doesn't help that Aurélie's crises are also mine. Sexuality has been a big sticking point for her. It is 2044 and some people still have a hard time accepting that members of LGBT community are people who deserve respect. Most of the times I've had to put people in their place was when they hurled homophobic slurs at Aurélie, Adele, or Amelie."

Marina's eyes widened a bit. This whole conversation was beginning to make her realize how much she had in common with Alice. "I know that feeling," Marina murmured. "Alice, can I confide something to you?" Alice nodded. "I'm a lesbian. Not even my own family knows. Every time I see or hear a slur thrown about, I feel a twinge of guilt. I should also be taking those slurs, not just the person they are directed at." She sighed. "It is just a good analogy for my condition I guess. I was too afraid to show off my true self and I am too afraid to come out of the closet." She met Alice's eyes. "Thank you."

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm not as good at this as Adele or Aurélie, but I figured you needed to hear it from someone who was in a similar situation. Now, are you ready to face everyone?"

Marina wiped a tear from her eyes as she nodded.


End file.
